youtube: giving you the edge in college admission
Tufts has added a new option to high school seniors hoping to make the Tufts cut: Send a YouTube video. Making a video is one of eight optional submission options with the new enrollment application.
The results have been fantabulous - clearly giving a handful of students a tremendous edge. Although Tufts says they won't take public comments into account, some student submissions have generated a groundswell of support from existing Tufts students and alumni. They're building fans (and likely friends) before they've even been accepted to the campus.
For colleges, this gives an admissions department a unique look at a student. You can see their talent, their drive, and their comfort with themselves as teens ready for their next step in life.
You can almost imagine that a future progression will be micro-fan-financing. Like my video? Help send me to college.
English teachers: don't freak out. YouTube is an option, after they've completed two 200 word essays. All is right in the universe.
Awesome to see higher education adapting to the world where their audience lives. The internet is here - let's put it to good use.
From @KyleJudah @tsand, @cdorso, @epsteada, and of course, @TuftsAdmissions. (Yeah, they're on Twitter, too.)
Labels: education, trends, youthmarketing
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:54 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
pennies as a lesson in engineering
When you're completely tired out from inane conversation with your relatives over the holidays, here's how you can occupy your time: build an entire city with pennies.
Texas Tech student Mitch Fincher demonstrated how pennies could be used to build larger structures. The demonstration is meant to teach civil engineering students the power of pillars in a cantilevered structure - but you can do it just for fun. Or to avoid that awkward conversation with your aunt.
Who knew "coin stacking" was a meme? From @markshepard
Labels: architecture, creativeinspiration, education
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:44 AM
0 comments
Friday, December 11, 2009
tacky sweaters for your digital pleasure
The Kansas City Art Institute is spreading holiday cheer the old fashioned way - with tacky holiday sweaters.
Their holiday card lets you create your own custom embroidered (digital) holiday sweater. Check out my glorious couture above, crafted in about 7 seconds, while battling the shakes from eating too many pecan squares. Thanks, Casey!
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:30 AM
0 comments
Thursday, November 19, 2009
how to use one of those apostrophe thingees
If you've ever been confused about when to use an apostrophe, and when to hold back, here's the ultimate guide: How To Use An Apostrophe is a wonderous visual cheat sheet that helps you clarify when it's needed and when it's not.
Teachers and wannabe copywriters: you can even buy a poster version of this guide for your classroom or cubicle. From @damnredhead.
Labels: copywriting, education
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:47 AM
0 comments
Friday, November 06, 2009
bringing twitter to the classroom
W. Gardner Campbell, director of the Academy of Teaching and Learning at Baylor University believes that Twitter can be a valuable resource in the classroom.
Imagine a classroom where students can tweet their questions and comments on the subject matter, projected on a screen at the head of the class. Imagine students having access to that stream after class, for additional discussion and additional input.
Sound far fetched? Actually, that's exactly the scenario that exists at SXSW (above) and other conferences. Why not bring the same level of communication and information to students?
Some say the distraction wouldn't do well in class. Campbell disagrees. Commenting on the possibility of a classroom filled with the clickety clack of keyboards, he says “That’s a godsend! Suddenly, I’m not just the one at the front just dispensing everything, and the students aren’t just sort of milling about doing their thing — we’ve actually got a team of people working together.”
From HalThomas
Labels: education, social media, twitter
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:43 AM
0 comments
Thursday, October 29, 2009
apply to college through twitter
The College of Charleston is now testing the use of Twitter in its application process.
Here's how it works:
You send a tweet to the College of Charleston illustrating why you're perfect for their college. If your tweet is good enough, the College of Charleston will follow you back and then begin a direct message conversation.
While some see this as controversial or even ridiculous, it's not so vastly different than an interview with an admissions counselor. Ace that interview, and perhaps your application will get more attention. That's very likely how the Twitter program will work. In essence, the College of Charleston has applied modern tools to an age old process. Nice work. From Chngbkt.
Labels: education, social media, twitter, youthmarketing
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:16 AM
2 comments
Friday, October 09, 2009
community designed college apparel
Vote for Art is a new site influenced by Threadless, but geared toward the college community. Artists will be able to upload their original college t-shirt designs, the community will vote on their favorites, and the best shirts get sold in college book stores.
Since most college t-shirt designs suck, this could open up some nice business for college book stores and Vote for Art. (The site hasn't officially launched yet, and today they're asking artists to design their logo instead of t-shirts...one step at a time.)
Labels: education, fashion, social media, youthmarketing
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:27 AM
0 comments
Thursday, October 08, 2009
ridiculous school mascots
Mental Floss has a collection of the craziest school mascots. Somebody needs to release these as a line of t-shirts. One of my favorites: the Laurel Hill Hoboes. (Which, shouldn't it be "hobos"??)
This makes me pine for my old Bloomingdale Pirates gym shorts. (Because there were probably loads of pirates that settled in the land-locked suburbs of Chicago.) From Coudal.
Labels: creativeinspiration, education, sports marketing, youthmarketing
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:35 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
you make your own choices
Here's a fun choose your own path adventure that you can play out on YouTube. The series educates viewers on why you don't really need to carry a knife around, or get in knife fights. (Unless of course, you work in advertising.)
This is great work that will suck your time away, and all for an educational non-profit cause. Thanks, Lee!
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:28 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
be quake ready. and stylish.
This is the most beautifully produced earthquake information site that has ever existed. Who says you can't educate with great design? Who says government sponsored marketing material has to look like a monkey's butt?
Clearly the makers of QuakeQuiz San Francisco didn't get that memo. Nice work. From Quipsologies.
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:05 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
how many $150K products do you buy from 20 year olds?
I've been touring colleges over the last couple of weeks, and oh boy, there's plenty to share. This will hopefully be the first of a few posts related to higher education marketing.
Let's talk tours.
The college tour system is BROKEN. And they're all doing the exact. same. thing:
+ Meet in the visitor center (and at the better colleges) mingle with a couple students.
+ Tour a lecture hall, the athletic center, a dining hall, a sample dorm room, a classroom, the blue light security system, and the student center.
+ Deliver factoids about the teacher/student ratio, the dorms, the meal plan, and security.
(I can now walk onto any campus in the U.S., and give the tour, sight unseen.)
Things that are bothersome, and are ripe for change:
+ Yes, the prospective student wants to hear from a real student, but not everyone's comfortable buying a $150,000 product from a 20 year old. (Like parents.)
+ The student tour guide is a representative of the end product. If she says things like "I'm ascared of the dark" or "...help with the softwares on your computer" or "most freshmans are on this plan," parents aren't getting excited to make a buy.
+ Most students (and parents) tour more than one school. By tour #3, they're bored out of their skulls.
There's an opportunity for someone to do something spectacular.
+ What about having an admissions/marketing person on tour with a student guide? Co-presenting, for the win? Sales teams present to clients selling $150K products every day. Why not higher ed?
+ Everyone has a meal plan, quad style dorms, blue light security systems and lecture halls. Hand out a fact sheet to cover the obvious stuff that everyone asks (but must be covered.)
+ What's different about your school? The entire campus of UMASS Dartmouth was pretty much designed by renowned architect Paul Rudolph. The buildings are striking. Any mention on the tour? Nope.
+ How could your tour be fun? Something that I want to tweet to my friends?
+ How could your tour be interactive? Is there a way to get the student/parent to participate?
+ Everyone has a camera in their pocket. Some even stream video. Let's put it to use, and give people a reason to take a photo. They might even share it with their friends.
+ Anywhere else in the consumersphere, you're treated like a rockstar if you've got over $100K to spend. How could you treat potential students (and parents) like rock stars?
Every higher ed admissions/marketing person should book a trip to Vegas today and take the Zappos tour. Seriously. This is a tour of AN OFFICE, and it's exciting, engaging, and you'll want to work there. What could your university be doing to make your tour more Zappos-like?
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:04 AM
8 comments
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
this is how you promote a physics department
Check out this video about the Science of Watchmen. Think it appeals to geeks? Yep. Think it's made science interesting? Yep.
Think it's positioned the University of Minnesota in a cool way to prospective students? Absolutely.
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:41 AM
0 comments
Monday, February 09, 2009
school that you don't mind going to
Omnisio has a great collection of videos with slide presentations from Startup school 08. This is a pretty cool conference of geeks talking about all of the things that you love: startups, business and the internets. Take 20 minutes a day this week and watch some of it. Your inner geek will love you more.
From StyleTime and Problogdesign, via Twitter.
Labels: adindustry, blogging, education, strategy, video, workplace
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:35 AM
0 comments
Monday, November 24, 2008
college students: we don't need your lame .edu address
Boston College has realized that students don't even want a school email address anymore. They've already had an email since they day they were born, and have no need to switch to a college email address.
Instead, Boston college students will get their communications forwarded to an address of their choice. That they probably won't check too often. ;)
Labels: education, trends, youthmarketing
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:06 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
pr students: everything you need to know
Twitter buddy Brad Ward is speaking to a bunch of college PR students. So naturally, he sent a tweet asking:
"HEY!!!! If you had 133 characters to tell a class of PR college students something, what would it be? Tag it #jr342. Thanks!! And retweet."
The results are pretty amazing. Tweets from across the globe came in within a matter of hours, with wise advice that couldn't possibly be duplicated in any textbook, professor's lecture or general internet search. Students: bookmark this, and refer back to it, often.
Labels: education, inspiration, pr, social media, twitter
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:47 AM
4 comments
Thursday, October 23, 2008
like schoolhouse rock. but without all of the singing.
Confused by the crazy electoral system? About the importance of states versus the popular vote? The Center for Governmental Studies has produced a fun video that explains it all, by comparing it to something you can understand: The corporate workplace. From Make the Logo Bigger.
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:15 AM
1 comments
Monday, May 12, 2008
meet the next big agency
This weekend, I attended the CT Innovation Expo, a pretty cool program that the state sponsors for high school students. The event took place at the CT Convention Center, and featured some of the brightest students from across the state. Lots of future coder geeks, gaming geeks, engineers and....creatives.
It was pretty cool to meet the crew from Woodland Regional High School, who have created their own high school ad agency. Called AMP, they provide agency services for any school event.
You probably remember the handmade, lame-o flyers that your friends made for the high school dance. AMP creates, prints, and distributes cool flyers. They'll create MySpace pages. And they'll get the word out, for the events they promote.
What an awesome idea. For the event planners that hire them (who better to target teens, than TEENS?), and for the students. These future creative superstars are getting a real-deal look at what it's like to work with a client, while building their pre-college portfolios.
Kids weren't this smart, when I was in high school. Nice job.
Labels: adindustry, education, youthmarketing
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:14 AM
1 comments
